9 High-Quality Dividend Stocks Yielding 5% or More

Dividend safety is a core element of conservative income investing and selecting dividend stocks.

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Dividend safety is a core element of conservative income investing and selecting dividend stocks. Not only does a payout cut reduce a portfolio’s income stream, but it can also significantly hurt a nest egg’s long-term returns.

Companies that cut or eliminated their dividends recorded an annual loss of 0.4% per year from 1972 through 2016 while being much more volatile than the broader market, according to data from Ned Davis Research.

No one wants to outlive their retirement savings, so seeking out safe dividend stocks clearly is an important capital preservation strategy.

Income-hungry investors tend to be drawn to stocks with higher yields. However, exercising caution to avoid companies with the greatest risk of reducing their dividends in the future is just as important.

The following nine dividend stocks appear to be high-quality businesses with safe and growing yields above 5%. Here’s a closer look.

Disclaimer

Data is as of March 22, 2018. Dividend yields are calculated by annualizing the most recent quarterly payout and dividing by the share price. Click on ticker-symbol links in each slide for current share prices and more.

Brian Bollinger
Contributing Writer, Kiplinger.com

Brian Bollinger is President of Simply Safe Dividends, a company that provides online tools and research designed to help investors generate safe retirement income from dividend stocks without the high fees associated with many other financial products.